The present invention is directed to a peeler apparatus with an adjustable peeler carriage for peeling a strand of sausage and more particularly to a peeler carriage having one or more knife assemblies.
Sausages, wieners, and the like are conventionally made by extruding a meat emulsion into an elongated hollow cylindrical casing. The casing is then rotated and twisted at given intervals to create a chain or string of linked casings with each linked casing encompassing a single sausage or wiener. This string of linked casings is conventionally deposited on a conveyor device and taken to a smoke house where the encased meat emulsion is dried, smoked, and cooked and potentially chilled. Then, before the sausage or wieners are packaged for sale to the consumer, the casing material is removed from the cooked meat emulsion. Devices which remove the casing material are commonly referred to as “peelers” in the industry.
Sausages, including franks that are linked and cooked are most often peeled, where the casing is removed, prior to packaging. To peel the sausage, typically a knife, having a blade, cuts the casing along the length of the sausage, parallel to the centerline of the sausage. The cut must extend through the casing without damaging the sausage. To ensure proper peeling, the blade cuts the casing at the leading edge and then along the length of the casing. To accomplish this, the knife is mounted so that the blade will lift away from and return to the centerline of the sausage through the use of a spring that presses the knife against the sausage.
A strand of food product includes a string of interconnected sausages separated by constrictions. When producing strands of small food products, such as cocktail products, the cut is short and therefore the opening for the peeled product to exit the casing is small. As a result, short products are very difficult to cut and peel because of the limited length and weight of the product, as well as the increased number of constrictions. Also other types of sausages besides cocktails having more adhesion of the casing to the meat product will be hard to cut and peel.
Presently, peelers have a carriage with a knife assembly adjustably mounted to the carriage. The knife assembly includes a blade attached to a blade holder and a spring that provides a downward force so that the blade presses against the length of the sausage. The carriage position to the sausage determines the force with which the hold down wheels will push into the product and creating tensioning on the top side outer surface of the casing where the vertical cut is made. The adjustability of the knife assembly allows for manual adjustment of the downward force of the blade against the sausage.
The carriage is also adjustably mounted to a rail or a slide, so that the carriage may be raised and lowered to the centerline of sausages having different diameters. Typically, to adjust the position of the carriage, a securing wing screw is loosened, the carriage lifted or lowered, and the swing screw tightened usually while the machine is not running.
The knife assembly is positioned at a second set of drive wheels that transport the strand through the peeler. Directly after the knife is a set of three air nozzles. A first nozzle blows directly on the lengthwise cut made by the tip of the blade, causing the casing to open and separate from the sausage. The second and third nozzles are positioned downstream of the first nozzle further opening the casing and blowing the casing onto a vacuum wheel. Holes in the vacuum wheel having a vacuum pressure assist in removing the casing from the sausage and the casing leaves the peeler through a vacuum hose or suction line. The peeled sausages exit the peeler and are taken away by a conveyor or deposited in a container.
Other peelers typically use steam to loosen the casing material from the cooked meat emulsion; a knife element thereupon slits the casing material; and a blast of compressed air is sometimes used to cause the casing material to be removed from the cooked and finished meat product.
While helpful, known peelers still have difficulty peeling sausages and particularly short products. Short products require a short cut and opening for the product to exit the casing and opening the casing sufficiently enough to catch the casing with the applied vacuum is very difficult. When the sausage is not adequately cut at the ends, the sausages are not appropriately released from the casings which leads to product jams that halt operations. As a result, greater operator attention is needed. Other peelers have certain shortcomings. First of all, the knife elements used for the slitting operation often cut too deep and damage the cooked meat emulsion. Further, the knife elements are not adapted to slice adequately the casing at the ends of the sausage or wieners where the adjacent products are linked. As a result, the casing material must be torn from the cooked product at the ends thereof where the casing has not been effectively sliced.
In addition, with existing peelers, it is sometimes difficult to separate or pull the casing material from the ends of a sausage or wiener by virtue of the geometry of the product at the linked portions between individual linked products. This difficulty flows from the fact that the casing material being removed is not being pulled at a right angle with respect to the surface of the meat product.
A further shortcoming of existing peelers is that while steam is used to loosen the casing material from the cooked product, the product and the components engaging the product are often heated to a relatively high temperature, but less than 150° F. or so. Thus, even with steam entering existing peelers at a temperature of 180° F. or above, heat losses experienced in these devices permit the effective temperature of the surface of the meat product and the equipment to fall below the 150° F. level. The problem that this creates is that bacteria thrive in this heated condition up to 150° F. or so, and this compounds the cleaning responsibilities for the machine and in some cases could contaminate the food product.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like which has a cutting blade that will not damage the meat product while the casing is being sliced.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a carriage that is easy to mount to a cabinet and adjust to the different product sizes with a true, reproducible and fixed adjustment.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a knife assembly adjustably mounted to the carriage to permit precise positioning of the knife assembly to the hold down wheels holding down the product to be cut before peeling to apply the correct knife pressure.
A still further objective of the present invention is to provide a peeling assembly that makes at least one cut, in a more reproducible and precise way in a sausage to separate a casing more easily.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like wherein the encased linked meat product can have the casing material effectively sliced at the ends thereof as well as throughout the length thereof.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like wherein force is exerted on the linked product to expel the product from the casing material and to maintain the casing material being removed at an efficient angle of departure from the meat product to enhance the casing removal phenomena.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like wherein steam is propelled through the conduit carrying the linked product to be peeled, and the temperature of the steam is retained within the apparatus throughout the peeling operation to a level above 150° F. to prevent bacterial growth.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like wherein the peeling apparatus can be easily disassembled without tools; and where the entire machine is sanitary and easily cleaned, including the outside surface thereof, none of which are horizontal so as to provide immediate and automatic drainage.
To overcome this problem, at least two blade holders 152 with blades 178 are connected to arms 130 that are connected to the second end 122 of the adjustment screw 116. The at least two blade holders 152 are positioned to make at least two cuts 218, 220 in the sausage as shown in FIG. 11. Preferably, after the double cut is made and the sausage is transported downstream a first set of air nozzles 216 blows open the sides of the casing 222 away from the meat portion. Once loosened, and as the sausage is transported further downstream, a second set of air nozzles 216, preferably farther apart, further loosens the casing 222 away from the sausage 12. As the vacuum/pincher wheel 206 grabs the casing 222, the forward portion 224 of the casing breaks so that the sausage continues to travel downstream while the casing 222 is removed by the vacuum assembly 204.
An objective of the double knife peeler is to open the area in the casing in order to facilitate the sausage product to physically move out of the small opening cut in the casing.
A further objective of the double cut is to open the casing enough for the applied vacuum to grab the casing and move it away from the product transport direction. For this the air nozzles need to blow the cut casing open and against the vacuum roller. With the eye-shape open cut the casing is more flexible and will be opened better by the air nozzle.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.